


in sickness and in health

by helenfightslikepoetry



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Family Bonding, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27488734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helenfightslikepoetry/pseuds/helenfightslikepoetry
Summary: "Aline, we've been through this. You're sick. You're not working today."Helen looked exasperated. She had spent the morning arguing with Aline about whether or not she was well enough to participate in the daily running of the Institute just yet. She'd caught a cold a few days prior, probably the same bug that Tavvy had had, and she was stubbornly refusing to rest and let Helen take care of things on her own.Just Aline being sick with flu, cuddling with Helen and bonding with Tavvy.
Relationships: Helen Blackthorn/Aline Penhallow
Kudos: 16





	in sickness and in health

"Aline, we've been through this. You're  _ sick _ . You're not working today." 

Helen looked exasperated. She had spent the morning arguing with Aline about whether or not she was well enough to participate in the daily running of the Institute just yet. She'd caught a cold a few days prior, probably the same bug that Tavvy had had, and she was stubbornly refusing to rest and let Helen take care of things on her own. 

"But it's not fair to you. You have the Conclave meeting, all the paperwork, the kids, me-" 

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," Helen insisted earnestly and took her wife's hands in hers. "You really are your mother's daughter, aren't you? Seriously babe, if I was sick you wouldn't hesitate to do all of that for me. Let me for once spoil you." 

Aline knew it was true, and she knew she was fighting a lost battle. But she was damned if she was going to lose without a fight. "Look, I'm not saying I should go to the meeting. I just think it wouldn't hurt to help you with the pap-" 

She never got to finish that sentence when a sudden fit of cough caught her off guard and Helen wrapped her arm around her shoulders in a comforting gesture. A searing pain went through her chest and she might have to admit that maybe Helen had been right all along. 

"Just stay in bed today, if not for your own good then at least for me?" She pleaded with her, frowning worriedly. 

"Won't be going anywhere," Aline agreed reluctantly. Her raspy voice and chapped lips probably weren’t the best signs of good health anyway. She earned a small smile from her wife before she leaned in and kissed her tenderly. 

"That's my girl." 

Aline chuckled at the expression of encouragement, one Helen would use with her every time she managed to change her stubborn mind about something. 

Helen was still sitting on the bed with her when she shifted in a bid to get up, quickly making a halt for such an outrageous plan. "Woah there lady, what do you think you're doing?" She asked amusedly yet strictly, making it clear Aline wasn't going anywhere on her watch. 

"I fancied a hot drink, I'll just go and make some tea. it's not a big deal, honey." 

But Helen was adamant; she was going to fuss over her, whether she liked it or not. 

"Don't get up, I'll do it." 

“Helen, it’s a flu, I’m not an invalid,” Aline sighed but obediently leaned back against the cushions on their bed. “You have enough to do as it is, the last thing you need is pampering me.” 

“I’m your wife, I’m never too busy to look after you,” Helen replied matter-of-factly, indicating the end of discussion. She strode to the door and asked, “What kind of tea do you want? Green, black?” 

Aline shrugged. “Surprise me,” she suggested with a smile. Helen returned her smile and closed the door softly behind her. 

Aline stared at the closed door for a minute before closing her eyes. She wasn’t feverish now, but she still didn’t feel as though she was at her best just yet. And it didn’t help that she already felt immensely guilty about Helen having to take care of everything - looking after the kids, cooking for them, taking charge of the Institute - by herself. She knew that Helen was right and if the tables were turned, she would not hesitate for one second to take care of Helen and do everything else that was required of them, but an accusing voice in her head was telling her that Shadowhunters didn’t take days off, and it was a mindset so deeply internalised within her that it was hard to unlearn it despite Helen’s affirmations that it was not a day off if she was sick. 

She opened her eyes when she heard the door to the bedroom open and saw Helen come in with a steaming cup of hot beverage and a box of Kleenex. She walked over to Aline’s side of bed, set down her tea and kleenexes on her nightstand and sat down on the edge of the bed. She reached up to stroke her dark hair, tucking it behind her ear. Her blue-green eyes were clouded with anxiety and worry. “Do you need anything else? Are you sure you don’t want me to stay, cause I don’t have to go, it doesn’t hurt to skip one meeting-” 

“Babe, I’m fine,” Aline cut off her rumbling, taking Helen’s hand in hers and kissing it softly. “It’s just a flu,” she repeated her words from ten minutes earlier and continued before Helen could object, “And I already feel a lot better. Whatever it was that Magnus gave me is  _ really _ strong stuff, so you shouldn’t worry about me.” 

Helen nodded, biting down her lower lip like she often did when she was feeling even the slightest discomfort. Aline had always found it endearing, and though she generally didn’t enjoy being fussed over, there was something about Helen fussing over her that made her feel soft and tingling inside. But she was determined not to encourage it too much - Helen was nothing if not overprotective over the ones she cared about, and she could do with a rest of it for a while after everything that had happened during the Cold Peace, and the Cohort, and the Clave being banished from Idris. 

“Right, I better get going then,” she caved reluctantly. “I told the kids not to disturb you, I made them some lunch so they should be okay for a few hours without us. Dru and Ty will look after Tavvy as well, so you have absolutely no need to get up from bed, okay?” She said sternly, straightening her back and looking at her pointedly. 

“I’ll be good, I promise,” Aline replied, giving Helen’s fingers a gentle squeeze.

"Good," her wife said, leaning in to give her a quick goodbye kiss. "I will see you later." 

"See you," Aline replied as Helen got to her feet and blew her a kiss before exiting the room and once again closing the door behind her. 

Aline settled back against her pillows, observing the tea Helen had made her for the first time. It was green tea, and it seemed obvious now why her wife would go for it; green tea was supposed to be good in a fight against a cold. She smiled at the thought she had put into such a simple task as making tea and set the mug down again, this time grabbing the copy of A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle she had borrowed from Ty. If she had to spend the day in bed, she might as well spend it by doing something she herself considered useful. 

She had taken it upon herself to form a stronger bond with the younger Blackthorn siblings. When they had first returned from Wrangel Island, she had stepped back and let Helen get reacquainted with her siblings without her getting in the way. It hadn't been easy, what with having been forced to be so far away from them for so long, and with everything that had happened in the Accords Hall once they had arrived in Alicante with Diana Wrayburn. It had been heartbreaking, and so horrible, and every day she felt the same sorrow for her wife for having had Livvy back for barely half an hour, and for the rest of the kids for having their sister be ripped away from them so cruelly. 

So now that things had started to get as normal as they could under those circumstances, she had decided to step up and start bonding with those kids properly. Since she was the adult, she felt it was her responsibility to take that first step and show them that she was interested in getting to know them better. She reckoned taking an interest in whatever they were into was the easy first step, and thus had asked Ty to borrow her the first novel of his Sherlock Holmes collection, the very one she had started reading the other night. 

She had also a hardcover copy of Dracula in the drawer of her nightstand, which she had gotten with Dru in her mind - she wasn’t really familiar with the horror genre the teenager loved so much, but she was hoping that reading some of the classics would help her connect with her, and maybe she could join her to watch horror films one day. She hadn’t wanted to do that uninvited; she didn’t want the younger girl to feel pressured into socializing with her just because she felt she had to. 

After a while she realised that if she wanted to obey her wife’s orders, she should have requested a glass of water before she left. She had started to feel a bit feverish and while the tea had comforted her sore throat, all she wanted in that moment was some cold water. So she got up defiantly and grabbed Helen’s black and white polka dotted dressing gown from a hook on their wardrobe and put it over her pyjamas before stepping out of the room, walking along the corridor, down the stairs and into the yellow painted kitchen, where she found a small figure reaching into the fridge. Upon hearing her footsteps, Helen's youngest brother Octavian turned around, the Blackthorn signature blue-green eyes that were so similar to Helen's looking back at her. Guilt was written all over him - in the way he held himself stiffly and eyes a little bit wider than usually. She was fairly certain he was stealing cookies, and she could see the cogs working in his head as he tried to find a quick way out of the situation. 

Aline smiled softly at the young boy in front of her. The sweet, pancake-loving boy who liked illustrated books and looked so tiny for his age. Though, Aline supposed, she hadn't known many seven-year-old children before so she wasn't quite sure if he just looked so small to her. 

"What's up, Tavvy?" she greeted him as brightly as she could in a tone, she hoped, that indicated she had not noticed anything suspicious about him and was happy to see it had worked as he visibly relaxed. 

"I'm thirsty," he said in response, reaching for the milk and closing the fridge. Quick thinking, Aline thought, impressed. 

"Yeah, me too," she replied and walked to the sink, took a glass from one of the kitchen cabinets and filled it with cold water from the tap. "I fancy something sweet, too," she continued as an afterthought and Tavvy glanced at her almost hopefully. She nodded towards the refrigerator and asked, "Do we have anything good?" 

Helen had a very strict policy on candies, cookies and pretty much everything unhealthy and Aline wholeheartedly agreed with her. This time, however, she felt like she should make an exception. 

"There's cookies" he almost exclaimed and strolled towards her. "Chocolate chip cookies!" 

"My favourite," Aline grinned and opened the fridge, reached to the shelf where she knew the box of cookies was kept and took one for herself, and handed the box to Tavvy to help himself. Which he happily did, thanking her so sincerely Aline almost lost her resistance and gave him the whole goddamn box. Almost. 

She realised now for the first time that she hadn't seen Drusilla or Tiberius anywhere at the Institute during the five minutes that she had spent outside of their bedroom. "Where's Ty and Dru?" 

"In Ty's room," Tavvy shrugged, still savouring his cookie. "They didn't want cookies." 

"I see," Aline chuckled, not failing to notice that Tavvy had accidentally confessed that he had indeed been in the kitchen for criminal purposes, and wrapped her arms slightly around herself as she watched Tavvy give her a shy wave of his hand before dashing off to Ty and Dru undoubtedly. 

She left the kitchen as well and wandered back to the bedroom, not completely closing the door but instead leaving it slightly ajar. Helen shouldn't be back for a while yet so she absentmindedly took her pillow and hugged it against her, while taking the Sherlock Holmes novel in her lap again. Her head ached in a way that signalled her temperature was on a nasty rise, so she took some of the strong potion Magnus had given her and flicked through the pages mainly to give her hands something to do. 

She raised her eyes from the book when she heard the door creak ever so slightly and smiled warmly at the sight of Tavvy standing there, looking a little bit awkward and holding a book in his hands. 

"Helen told us not to disturb you, but Ty and Dru went out and didn't take me with them," he grumbled, a little pout forming on his face. Aline found it extremely endearing. 

"Aaw sweetheart, Helen's just worried," she explained and patted the spot next to her. "Keep me company? I've got raisins and nuts," she added playfully; she didn't have a lot of experience with children as of yet, but she had a feeling those weren't the most tempting bribes for a seven-year-old. It seemed to work though, since Tavvy made his way cautiously over to the bed and slipped under the covers on Helen's side of the bed. Aline offered him her healthy snacks and he accepted them with a shy thanks. 

This wasn't the first time Aline was alone with Tavvy. She'd distracted him a few times while Helen and the others had discussed serious business, someone as young as Octavian shouldn't hear or know about, but they hadn't hung out like this before. She noticed the book he had carried was still on his lap, almost covered by the blanked he had pulled over himself. 

"What's that?" She asked and pointed at the book. Tavvy seemed to have forgotten about it and pulled it on sight. It looked like a children's book, beautifully and intricately illustrated. 

"Jules used to read it to me when I got sick," he explained and opened the book to reveal more of the stunning illustrations. 

Aline was struck by a warm feeling in her chest when he finished speaking. He was such a young boy, but when he saw her sick he had thought about the book that had brought comfort to him when he had been ill. 

"We could read it now if you want?" She offered and when he nodded, she took the book from his grip and scooted closer to him, placing the book so it rested between them. And as they read, she would point at the pictures of cottages and sly looking foxes, and he would practically give her a full review of the story by heart. She had such a good time with him that she barely noticed her temperature going down as she began to feel gradually better. 

She remembered Tavvy when she and Helen had first started dating and she'd met her family for the first time, months before Wrangel. He had been just a toddler, an incredibly cute baby with thick hair and chubby arms and legs. She hadn't known how to properly hold him, and the first time Helen had handed him into her arms it had been so awkward that Helen had had to rush to her side and support them with her arms so Aline could get a better position. After a lot of encouragement and reassurance from Helen, she had tried to hold him again after that but it had never come as naturally to her as it seemed to come to Helen. She was older now and hoped that she would feel more at ease with their own baby in the future. 

They were so absorbed in the book that neither of them noticed the voices that rang loudly in the corridors until Helen appeared at the door, her face going from slightly confused to completely enamoured at the sight of her wife and little brother cuddling and laughing under the covers. She walked over to them and stroked Tavvy's dark brown curls softly. 

"Ty and Dru are Skyping Julian and Emma," she informed him and chuckled at the excited expression on his little face. "In the living room. I thought you might want to join them?" 

And Tavvy stood up so quickly that in his eagerness he failed to take his book with him, leaving it forgotten on Aline's lap. Helen looked fondly after him and then turned to look at her with the same fondness. "I take it you had a good time while I was gone?" 

"Your brother is a very entertaining kid," she replied vaguely and grinned at her wife. "I barely had time to miss you.”

A pout very much like her brother's spread onto Helen's face and Aline couldn't keep her own pretense up at the adorable sight in front of her. "I'm only kidding, baby," She giggled. "I missed you loads." 

Helen's face broke into a beaming smile and she finally crawled into the bed with Aline, pulling the covers up to her waist. "I missed you too," she whispered and pressed a soft, lingering kiss on her cheek. 

Aline hummed happily and leaned against her body.

“How are you feeling?” Helen asked, playing with her fingers.

“Better,” Aline replied honestly. “My throat isn’t killing me as badly anymore and the monster headache is gone.” 

“I’m glad to hear that,” her wife responded sincerely and let out a deep sigh. 

“So, how was the meeting?”

"Boring," Helen replied curtly and leaned her head against Aline's. "I'll fill you in later, right now I just want a cuddle." 

This time Aline didn't try to hide her grin. She wrapped her arm around her wife’s waist and dropped a kiss on her neck, knowing fully well that Helen might be the next victim of her and Tavvy’s vile bug.

"So a cuddle you shall have." 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> in truth, i don't know many children so i hope i didn't write Tavvy completely off character. anyways, hope you like it!


End file.
